CagePotato recently spoke with the former five-time Super Heavyweight kickboxing champion and current head coach/trainer at Roufusport in Milwaukee. We discussed his beginnings in combat sports, his take on UFC superfights, the upcoming Anthony Pettis vs. Clay Guida matchup, and what he really thinks about Dana White asking teammates to fight each other. Check it out after the jump.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us at CagePotato. For those who may not be aware, can you tell us how you got started in martial arts?

Duke Roufus: I started when I was four years old at my dad’s martial arts school. I started doing tournaments when I was six. Then we evolved into kickboxing and muay thai. Basically, I’ve been involved in every gamut of combat sports, and I guess the rest is just history. I worked my first UFC corner at UFC 26 and since 2005 I’ve been actively cornering guys; Ben Rothwell and Stephan Bonner were some of my original guys.

Speaking of big names, how do you manage all of the egos at Roufusport?

There are no egos, that’s the key. Sure, we’ve got a lot of really decorated guys here; Ben Askren’s joined us, but everyone checks their egos at the door. It’s just a bunch of guys doing work who want to get better.

You mentioned Ben Askren, Bellator’s Welterweight champion. Has he rubbed anyone the wrong way yet?

It was with a somewhat heavy heart we brought you news recently that women’s middleweight face-wrecker Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was playing footsie with WWE, assumedly about joining the company’s stable of “divas.” In light of that, we’re pleased to report that Santos tells Tatame this week that she’ll return to the world of legitimate fighting in August … except … not with Strikeforce. From what we’re able to gather from the written report, Cyborg’s contract has expired and she can’t fight in America until she re-ups with SF. Not sure why, maybe some sort of non-compete clause or because there is just no other place for top-level women’s MMA fighters to ply their trade on this god-forsaken continent.

Instead, she’s nearly set to fight at an event in Brazil, against an opponent to be named later. After the jump, Cyborg’s manager elaborates, plus some notes about the return of former UFC middleweight Ivan Salaverry.

This would appear to put to rest not only Royce Gracie’s aspirations to rematch Matt Hughes at UFC: Rio, but also an immediate bout for Diego Sanchez against any of the numerous dudes he’s been beefing with on Twitter: The horse’s mouth itself – UFC.com – confirmed on Thursday that Hughes and Sanchez will face-off at an event to be named later, likely in the fall. So that’s weird.

We might’ve thought Sanchez deserved better, after squeaking by Martin Kampmann via relentless disregard for his own face at the latest UFC on Versus show. Meanwhile, Hughes – who is 37 – has recently grumbled about retirement and appeared to indicate he’d only like to fight fellow old guys who he might actually be able to beat from here on out. This appears to be an odd little piece of matchmaking for both guys.

An undisclosed injury has forced the postponement of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto’s second Octagon appearance at UFC 130 next month. Stepping in for the highly-regarded Japanese bantamweight to face Chris Cariaso will be California native Michael McDonald.

If you’re looking for something to do this afternoon to waste some time while you wait for Steve Carell’s final episode of The Office, The Royal Wedding or Cage Potato’s Banned Party, look no further than the latest episode of our massively popular (OK, mildly popular) podcast.

In this instalment we get to see Jake Shields juggling being father and a fighter.

Of perhaps more interest is that, while training with UFC light heavyweight prospect and former Division I wrestler Phil Davis, Shields did pretty well controlling Mr. Wonderful on the ground. Davis remarked that although he had no problem getting Shields to the ground, he couldn’t hold him there or retain control over the Cesar Gracie black belt — which is something he says he’s never had a problem with before. Sure GSP will probably get Shields down, but the question Saturday night will be what he is able to do when he does.

(“What, that bright light? It shines down on us from heaven. Come see how it feels, Scott. Nice, right?”)

Despite everybody’s continued claims that things have never been better inside Strikeforce, we know the UFC has already taken over the company’s relations with the media and begun poaching its biggest stars. Now, it seems UFC executives are also neck deep in Strikeforce’s business, reportedly working (at least for the time being) to make sure the smaller fight promotion’s top remaining draws are happy. That’s the word out of Toronto on Thursday, where multiple reports say Dana White will meet with Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz after UFC 129 and that co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta is already seeing to the task of making the proposed superfight between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson become a reality.

First and foremost, White seems understandably concerned with Diaz’s apparent designs on bolting MMA for boxing. As quickly as plans to have the Stockton bad boy fight Fernando Vargas fell apart a couple weeks back, new reports surfaced saying former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy might be interested. Perhaps most interestingly, White said this week Diaz’s contract actually does allow for such foolishness – which is another good example of why UFC people need to be up in SF’s business – but he’s obviously not crazy about the idea.

Len Bentley still has his panties in a bunch from Coach Lesnar’s ass-chewing after Ramsey Nijem defeated Charlie Rader last week. Bentley storms out of the Team Green locker room. “I’m not going to sit here and get punked out,” he says. “It’s like, bro, you weren’t even here for my fight.” Brock is cool with Bentley’s nonviolent protest, but says that deep down Len knows he could’ve given more during his fight. When Bentley returns, Brock admits he hasn’t exactly *watched* that fight yet and Len says if he had, he’d know Bentley got robbed by the judges. “It’s over, buddy,” Lesnar tells him, in a tone that clearly means “big deal.”

Brock says he’s still looking for someone to wow him and then he tries to make an issue out of how fighting is his livelihood. As if he’s not a kabillionaire who just took up MMA like four years ago. “When you guys step in that Octagon, it’s kill or be killed,” Lesnar says. Then, just for good measure, he says it again: “Kill … or be killed.” Now that’s coaching.